Growing up near barbeque-loving Kansas City, I didn’t meet a lot of vegans. Nationally, the group is a minority as well; however, interest in veganism is branching out since the diet has been found to have profound health and environmental benefits. Now what is being vegan all about?
What is a Vegan?
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Vegans are people who do not consume any animal by-products. While vegetarians may eat eggs or dairy, vegans do not eat any foods that come from animals, even honey, in the case of some vegans. That means vegans only eat plant-based foods. Many vegans will choose not to use other animal by-products such as leather or wool, or products that have been tested on animals.
Why Vegan?
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The three most cited reasons people choose to be vegan are animals rights, environmental concerns and health benefits. For vegans concerned with animal rights, their diet allows them to avoid supporting cruelty to animals that takes place in agriculture and industry.
As for the environment, eating “lower on the food chain” (i.e. eating only plants) requires less energy, land, and water than eating animal products. A report from Cornell University found that the production of animal protein requires eight times as much fossil fuel as the production of plant protein. When comparing meat-eating diets to ovo-lacto-vegetarianism, Rodale.com found that omnivorous diets require nearly 3 times as much water, “13 times more fertilizer, and 1.4 times more pesticides” as vegetarian diets do—vegan diets are even more efficient. The bottom line is that eating plants rather than animals means fewer carbon emissions and other pollution and fewer natural resources used.
What’s more, veganism is one of the healthiest diets one could choose, especially those at risk for disease. Prominent nutritional researcher and author of The China Study Dr. T. Colin Campbell has found that eating plant-based foods significantly reduces the risk for a variety of cancers, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases. Plant-based diets also help to maintain a healthy weight and cholesterol level. Dr. Campbell has found that vegan diets can even reverse the growth of cancers.
What Do Vegans Eat?
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Eating vegan is a definite change from the average American diet. Not only does it require dropping obvious foods like meat, milk, and eggs, but also foods containing animal ingredients like cookies or pasta made with eggs, pancakes made with milk, and desserts made with butter. Fortunately, it’s easy to make satisfying vegan versions of nearly all these foods. It’s as simple as replacing butter with vegan margarines like Earth Balance for some recipes. Other vegan fixes like using ground flax seed mixed and hot water as an egg substitute or Ener-G Egg Replacer aren’t so intuitive, but are easy nonetheless.
You can also buy vegan versions of cookies, crackers or breads at many groceries and co-ops. The same stores are likely to carry plant-based versions of traditional animal products like soy milk, soy cheese, and coconut-milk ice cream, as well as tofu, seitan, tempeh, veggie burgers, and textured vegetable protein (TVP), which are sometimes used instead of meat in vegan and vegetarian cooking.
Eating out as a vegan can be tricky—barbeque joints aren’t likely to have a lot to offer you—but if you look, you can find lots of restaurants that have vegan options, even some that have all-vegan menus.
Animal products are not necessary for a satisfying, delicious meal or a balanced diet, and there are lots of great reasons to stop eating them. Going vegan doesn’t mean going from “meat and potatoes” to “just potatoes.” The Ingredient Critic has a number of great vegan meal ideas under the “Healthy Recipes” section to get you started. Even if you’re not vegan, you might find some new favorites.
